Find Federal Agency

• WHAT IS ITS MISSION?
• HOW IS IT STRUCTURED?
• PRIMARY FUNCTIONS
• PROGRAMS
• BUDGET INFORMATION
• HISTORY
• FAST FACTS
• CURRENT POLITICAL ISSUES
• SUCCESSES AND FAILURES
• FUTURE DIRECTIONS
• AGENCY RESOURCES
• AGENCY PUBLICATIONS
• BIBLIOGRAPHY

ESTABLISHED: August 7, 1939
EMPLOYEES: 1,200

Contact Information:
ADDRESS: One Columbus Circle NE Washington, DC 20544
PHONE: (202) 273-1120
URL: http://www.uscourts.gov
DIRECTOR: L. Ralph Mecham

WHAT IS ITS MISSION?

The mission of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) is to provide a variety of support functions to the United States federal judiciary. The AO prepares and submits the budget for the courts to the Judicial Conference for approval by Congress. It analyzes legislation from Congress that will affect the courts' operations or personnel, and it interprets and applies the new laws. It also provides administrative help to members of the courts in the form of clerks, pretrial officers, court reporters, and public defenders.

HOW IS IT STRUCTURED?

The Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) is part of the judicial branch of the U.S. government. Its director is appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in consultation with the Judicial Conference of the United States, the body that sets the national and legislative policy of the federal judiciary. The Judicial Conference is composed of the chief judges from each judicial and geographic circuit and the chief judge of the Court of International Trade; it directs and supervises the AO.

The AO operates through an Associate Director for Management and Operations, an Associate Director, and a General Counsel. It also works through various offices in the federal judiciary including the Office of Congressional, External, and Public Affairs; the Office of Judicial Conference Executive Secretariat; the Office of Court Programs; the Office of Facilities, Security, and Administrative Services; the Office of Finance and Budget; the Office of Human Resources and Statistics; the Office of Information Technology; and the Office of Judges Programs. Each of these offices is responsible for its own specific area such as staffing, the functioning of specific courts, budget analysis, employee training, and technology support and training.

PRIMARY FUNCTIONS

The Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) manages spending, compiles and publishes statistics on the courts, and presents studies and recommendations on making the court system more efficient. Recommendations are made in regard to staffing, salaries, the number of judges needed, and the budgeting of public defenders. These responsibilities fall ultimately on the director. Under its legislative mandate the AO also supervises bankruptcy courts, federal magistrate judges, and federal defenders.

The AO works closely with people and institutions concerned with the operations of the court system such as the general public, congressional committees, government agencies, and state courts. The AO provides secretarial, legal, and statistical services for the Judicial Conference, and it is responsible for any new or changing duties requested by the Judicial Conference or the U.S. Supreme Court. The AO also audits offices of the judiciary.

PROGRAMS

The programs of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) are as varied as its functions. Programs aim at maximizing the effectiveness of the federal court system. For example, the Methods Analysis Program identifies the most efficient methods of administration, and in 1996 the National Academy of Public Administration completed a study of the most effective alternative court structures and practices.

Many programs deal with the use of new technologies, such as the launching of a new data communications network in the judiciary and an automated bankruptcy noticing system. In a bankruptcy case, the courts must inform the creditors involved that the business that owes them money has filed for bankruptcy protection. The new notification system will allow the courts to notify these creditors electronically en masse instead of individually through the mail. If one-quarter of all notices are sent electronically, the AO estimates the judiciary will save almost $4 million annually.

The Court Personnel System manages staffing and facilitates the decentralization of the agency. By allowing court managers to determine how to best budget their own funds, within limits set by the AO, courts can better address their own needs. The result is a more expedient and thrifty judicial system that consumes a decreasing percentage of the overall federal judiciary budget each year.

BUDGET INFORMATION

The overall budget appropriated by the US. Congress for the AO in 1998 was an estimated $54 million. This represents an increase of about 23 percent since 1991. Faced, however, with the federal government's goal to economize, the agency has practiced a hiring freeze in recent years and as a result, has reduced staffing from previous levels.

HISTORY

The court system in the United States began in the 1800s with few cases. It was a small, simple operation with no legal guidelines for its management. But as the population and the number of states grew, more and more court cases arose, causing the judicial system to expand and complexify. With this growing complexity came the need for increased efficiency, which requires that specific attention and organization be given to improving court operations.

For nearly one hundred years the Department of Justice handled these managerial responsibilities. Finally, however, the work load became so burdensome that in 1939 Congress created the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) to handle administrative duties for federal courts. The AO was also assigned to continually study, research, and make recommendations on the running of the court system.

With the ever increasing work load of the federal judicial system, the duties of the AO have grown accordingly, and it is considered a cornerstone of the federal judicial system. Faced with a reduced federal budget, the AO has been charged with maximizing its effectiveness within budgetary limitations. In the 1980s the AO began to reorganize, delegating to the courts themselves many of the administrative responsibilities that Congress had originally granted to the AO, thus decentralizing its responsibilities and streamlining its own operation.

CURRENT POLITICAL ISSUES

In an effort to address concerns about crime, Congress passed legislation in the 1990s that turned many state offenses into federal crimes, whose penalties are stricter and often carry mandatory sentencing guidelines. For example, carjacking that results in death is punishable in federal court with a life sentence without parole. Formerly the crime would have been handled according to a weaker state law. Congress proposes to reclassify thousands of other crimes as federal offenses including domestic violence, child pornography, and defacement of religious property.

But tougher federal laws have caused problems in the federal court system. More criminals have been removed from the streets, but more judges, personnel, and prisons are needed for them. Whether this system is appropriate has been called into question. From 1980 to 1990, for example, the number of federal prosecutors doubled, but the number of drug cases tried in federal courts jumped from 3,100 to 16,400, more than five hundred percent. The number of federal district judges available to try these cases increased only 11 percent, from 516 to 575. In addition, new mandatory sentencing guidelines for third-time offenders mean that more people are spending more time in prison, causing a need for more incarceration facilities.

SUCCESSES AND FAILURES

Implementation of new technology like the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system has proved hugely successful for the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO). This electronic bulletin board provides specific information on court cases; in 1996 it handled more than 3 million requests for information. Similarly, the U.S. Supreme Court clerk's Automated Response System (CARS) allows people to call to learn the status of cases being considered by the Court.

One of the AO's growing problems, however, is the rise of illegal common-law courts. Militia groups in states such as Montana, Missouri, and Idaho have begun a campaign to harass the federal court system by flooding it with phony liens on judges' properties. These liens have no legal effect on the judges but can be difficult to rescind.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

The Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) is determined to continue to decentralize its operations by delegating more responsibilities to the courts themselves. This emphasis, the AO believes, will allow the courts to run more efficiently because they understand their own needs better than the AO. As a result the AO hopes to develop more programs that in some way analyze and study management systems used in the judicial branch. It also hopes to implement new technologies as they become available.

AGENCY RESOURCES

Information is available from the public information officer at the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO). Call (202) 273-1120 or look at the home page of the U.S. federal judiciary on the Internet at http://www.uscourts.gov or at http://www.uncle-sam.com/unclesam/uscourts.html.

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AGENCY PUBLICATIONS

Publications dealing with the various offices under the administration of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) are available from the Federal Judicial Center. Single copies of most publications are available free-of-charge including The Federal Courts and What They Do, and Welcome to the Federal Courts. Call (202) 273-4153 or fax (202) 273-4025. More than 46 publications are available via the Internet at http://www.fjc.gov. These include the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, the Manual for Complex Litigation, and the Survey on the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure.